Charlton Athletic Women are pleased to announce the signing of former Chelsea defender Maddie Phillips.

The 18-year-old right back Phillips joins the Addicks after nine years with the Blues, graduating through their youth system and representing their Development side last season.

On signing, Phillips said she was pleased to have signed for the club. “All the coaches and staff are very passionate and from coming in and playing with the girls for the last two weeks, they’re all top class and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else to be honest,” she said.

“We’re being pushed every single day and I’m being pushed outside my comfort zone, which is great because it’s improving me as a player already.”

Phillips also added that she was excited with the “big ambitions” the club had to better last season’s third place finish, after speaking to manager Riteesh Mishra. “[The big ambition] for the club is promotion.

“We want to win every single game we can. Since the top two teams [from last season] have gone, we’re probably one of the best teams in the league so we are definitely pushing for [promotion].”

Manager Riteesh Mishra is pleased to get another signing over the line

“We have players such as Maddie who have been involved with top WSL teams joining us which shows the drive of set-up we are looking to create at the club. Maddie will add quality and I’m looking forward to working with her”